"The cost of poor tire maintenance is huge. Tire related costs are the single largest maintenance cost item for commercial vehicle fleet operators. Nationwide, average tire related costs per tractor-trailer are about 1.9 cents per mile – or about $2,375 for a 125,000 annual mileage operation. For the average fleet in the U.S. improper tire inflation increases the annual procurement costs for both new and retread tires by about 10-13% and fuel economy loss due to poor tire inflation is about 0.6% for typical truckload (TL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) operations.

Improper tire inflation is also responsible for about 1 road call per year per tractor-trailer combination. A road call averages about 2.55 hours of lost travel time and costs the typical fleet operator about $750. This does not include the cost of a new tire, driver delay wages, lost customer goodwill, or penalty charges for late freight delivery."

-- Peggy Fisher, President, Fleet Tire Consulting
   Technology and Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Association